Mike Dolce takes issue with GSP trainer's comments on No. 1 contender

Mike Dolce considers Firas Zahabi a friend and colleague, but vehemently disagrees with the Tristar Gym head trainer’s belief that Nick Diaz is the No. 1 welterweight contender.

That distinction belongs to Johny Hendricks (14-1 MMA, 9-1 UFC).

“Nick hasn’t beaten anybody substantial in the welterweight division to earn that shot,” Dolce told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “Nick certainly will be in line soon. He’s got to get a couple of wins. Johny’s got those wins already.”

The weight and nutrition consultant reached out after reading a story in which Zahabi claimed the former Strikeforce champion’s resume justified his status as the next man to fight welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre.

Part of Zahabi’s opinion also was founded in Diaz’s controversial decision loss at UFC 143 to Carlos Condit, who won the interim welterweight title and recently lost a lopsided decision to St-Pierre at UFC 154.

“Johny deserves it very much, but Diaz has been there longer and done more fights and has bigger wins,” Zahabi said. “If you want to be really fair about it, he is the guy who beat the most amount of names in the biggest fights.”

An entirely different message was conveyed to Dolce, who began working with Hendricks just prior to the fighter’s 12-second KO of onetime welterweight title challenger Jon Fitch at UFC 141.

“I believe that they are avoiding Johny because Johny is a better wrestler than Georges St-Pierre, and Johny possess knockout power to defeat Georges,” Dolce said. “If Georges can’t take down Johny, he’s got to stand. If Georges has to stand with Johny, he’s in a lot of trouble.”

Dolce took further issue with the idea that Diaz has faced better competition in recent years.

“I’m looking at Nick’s record right now,” he said. “He beat K.J. Noons, a 155-pounder; Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ (Santos), and who is he? Then Paul Daley – all right, Paul Daley’s tough. Then B.J. Penn, a very uninspired B.J. Penn, who’s a lightweight. He beat two lightweights, one very fringe welterweight, and Paul Daley.

“Then you look at who Johny fought. Johny fought Mike Pierce, who’s very tough and underrated. Then he comes in and knocks out Fitch, beats Koscheck, and knocks out Kampmann. It’s hands down – Johny deserves a shot. But Johny’s not going to call anybody out. He’s not going to get into a Twitter battle. Johny’s in the gym right now, training – that’s what he does.”

And that, he acknowledged, might be a problem. He said the “middle-American, average, blue-collar” Hendricks is the opposite of Diaz, whose brash antics have confounded promoters and captivated fans.

Diaz’s behavior also has won the scorn of St-Pierre, who said he had a “professional hatred” of the 29-year-old native of Stockton, Calif., for the bad-boy image he brought to the sport. The welterweight champ requested a fight with Diaz after the fighter called him out at UFC 137. He then injured his ACL, prompting Condit to fight Diaz at UFC 143.

“I think there’s a grudge match there, where GSP and Nick, they don’t like each other,” Dolce said. “I think GSP wants to beat up Nick. With Johny, they don’t want to get in the cage with Johny, because Johny possesses the skills necessary to beat St-Pierre soundly.”

Dolce isn’t convinced that Zahabi is pushing for Diaz because he sees a bigger payout against St-Pierre. If that were truly the case, he said, the welterweight champ should fight middleweight champ Anderson Silva.

“I think GSP is the box office draw,” Dolce said. “If he shadowboxes for 25 minutes on a pay-per-view, he’s still going to outdraw nearly every other athlete in the UFC.

“He’ll make a little bit more money if he fights Nick Diaz – but he’s not going to make a lot more money if he fights Nick Diaz. He will make a lot more money if he fights Anderson Silva. So it’s not about the money. It’s about protecting his belt. He thinks he can beat Nick Diaz – they don’t think they can beat Johny Hendricks. And I agree.”

Dolce said Hendricks is back in the gym and would be ready to fight in December if asked by the UFC. But the fighter ultimately waits the decision of the UFC, which is pushing for the superfight between Silva and St-Pierre to take place in mid-2013.

While UFC President Dana White has said he’ll do his best to make the superfight, he earmarked Hendricks as the next welterweight contender after Hendricks’ 46-second KO of Kampann in the co-main event of UFC 154.

Speaking at the post-event news conference, Hendricks said he would wait for a title shot. Dolce said the fighter is a company man and will do what’s asked of him. But it shouldn’t be his image, or lack thereof, that should decide his fate.

“Johny grows out his beard and he wears cowboy boots, so he looks atypical; he doesn’t look like your typical athlete,” he said. “I think that’s a little bit of a problem. St-Pierre wears the Under Armour, he wears the Nike, he looks every bit the part of that super athlete. You put those two guys in the cage and you’re going to see who the best welterweight in the world is, and that’s Johny Hendricks, hands down.”

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